Gin,
Thanks for all the thoughtful questions. I am sure those who know much more about these stoves will chime in but I will give my two cents worth.
Concerning cracking on a soapstone stove, I have seen threads talking about cracked soapstone and so I do know it is possible. In most of those cases it was not an issue for usability, they were very hair line cracks that did not seem to effect ether safety or usability. Woodstock has a great reputation for having parts and pieces to fix in stock and they are always very reasonable compared to most other manufacturers. (Again someone with more experience needs to chime in on this one please.) Here is a (broken link removed to http://www.woodstove.com/building-a-fireview) that shows the construction of the stove in a "slide show" type format , with that you can see how it is very possible to repair should it need it. As with any stove that is not a welded steel box stove it will need occasional maintenance the F100/400/500 etc.. are this type of stove as well since it is bolted together from cast iron panels and not welded. This means, when necessary, you would need reseal or possibly disassemble, clean, and reseal the pieces with furnace cement to maintain good burn characteristics and safety (possibly 7-10 years if used regularly, longer if it is only used occasionally, shorter if it is used poorly or overfired regularly or severely) Don't let the thought of that type of maintenance scare you away, all new stoves will require regular maintenance. These are a big investment and are really worth it for what they can give you back.
Concerning the catalytic versus secondary combustion tubes. I will try to simply answer your question about usability I am not trying to say which is the better. Here is my rough attempt at describing the basic burn and use of these stoves.
On a Jotul F100 style stove, as I understand it, you have one lever that controls the primary air coming in the stove. The Fireview has both a by pass lever and an air control lever, the bypass gives the gasses a path to go straight up the chimney until they reach a temp that will cause the cat to engage.
To load the Jotul you open the primary air fully put in wood close the door and allow the fire to fully catch/engulf the wood. After wood is fully engaged you begin lowering the primary air incrementally, with time between changes ranging between 5 and 15 minutes, until you reach desired temperatures/settings. Can take between 15 minutes and an hour depending on wether the stove was cold or the amount of coals you have etc...
On the Fireview you open the bypass then open the air control fully put in wood close the door and allow the fire to fully catch/engulf the wood and or until the stove top hits about 250 degrees and the wood is fully engaged. Then you close the bypass and begin lowering the primary air intake. On ours we lower the primary from full to about 2 almost immediately (marks are 0-4 on the lever) then in 3-5 minutes we close it down to where we run it which is about .75 and walk away. Can take between 15 minutes and an hour depending on stove conditions amount of coals etc...
Both stoves once to running temp with good coals are capable of about 15 minutes from opening the door and having shut everything down and walking away.
On ether stove if you want to adjust the heat output you will need to mess with the air, if you want more of a fire show you will need to open the air more or less depending on the stove and where the stove is at in the burn cycle. If my experience with cast iron versus soapstone holds true for you then the following is probably correct. The Jotul will put off heat quicker but will also be more apt to have heavy temp swings in the room(s) during the burn cycle and will require a little more playing to maintain a consistent temp. The Fireview will warm up slower but will keep the room(s) a more constant heat without as much playing with air controls on the stove during the burn cycle.
Something I have learned recently is that all the new EPA approved stoves require more messing around then our old smoke dragons did. But the new stoves also require less wood to do the same amount of heating and make much less ugly black smoke out the chimneys.
You mentioned taking the cat out of a fireview, I would not recommend modifying any EPA stove by removing parts such as baffles in the Jotul style or the Catalytic in a cat stove. At the very least they would be very inefficient and I can almost guarantee they would be dangerous.
Long term running costs, I just rebuilt a Pacific Energy Summit and can see that it will possibly cost me more money long term to keep it running then my catalytic fireview. Cats last between 4-8 years being burnt well and cleaned regularly, I believe the PE summit will require a new baffle about as often and the baffle is actually more money then a new cat for the fireview so go figure.
Cleaning, it takes me almost exactly the same amount of time to clean out my fireview then cleaning the Summit it is designed so well it makes cleaning the cat simple. My wife and I absolutely love the look of the Jotul cast iron stoves they are truly beautiful. We also love the look of the fireview which looks more like a piece of furniture then a wood stove. You can't go wrong with ether stove, they both burn well and they both will do the job. We found when we first put a stove in years ago that we burnt it way more then we initially thought we would because we just loved it. I bet you will find the same thing.
I would really pay attention to begreens suggestions on stove size for your space. The PE T4 is gorgeous and a great stove, the Fireview and Keystone are as well and the Jotul F45 which is a welded steel box with cast panels covering it (like the T4) and the F400 cast iron stove are the same general size and are beautiful stoves with huge followings too. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the really good brands as long as it is sized correctly.
Well this ended up being overly long, I hope you can find some good in it. Any new stove will have a learning curve but once learned it will provide you with much enjoyment and great heat for many many years.
huauqui
